One Girl
by G3rain1
Summary: Samus is a girl all alone in the world. Excerpts from the earlier years of her life. Each chapter will be a story unto itself, told as a series of journal entries from her point of view. Explore her past and find out how she became who she is.
1. Ghosts of the Past

_What is this story? It's actually a collection of stories about Samus. As the summary says they will be told from Samus' point of view. They will primarily focus on the period of her life from the time when she left the Chozo up until the time of the first game. Although this first chapter falls out side that time frame, the majority of later chapters will be within it. _  
_How did this story come about? The idea came from the characterization of Samus I created for my other fiction 'Attached'. I liked what I had done with her so much she just had to have her own story. So if you are reading Attached and would like to know more about who Samus is, this is the thing to read... though their will be differences in the details here and there, she is mostly the same person with the same history. And if you read this and like it you may want to check out 'Attached'. Anyway, on with the story._

_Usual legal disclaimer: I don't own Samus or Metroid or any other Nintendo character._

* * *

_Intro_

--x--_  
_

These are my personal logs. It's by no account a complete record of my past. They are simply stories from my life. Each having some importance, some relevance to who I am as a person, or are just something I felt like telling. If you're reading this, you've probably read my mission logs already. And if you haven't, you still may know me by reputation. The hunter, the warrior, bane of the Space Pirates, the one and only survivor of the Chozo. You know what I do and what I have done, but you don't know... me, who I am. Samus Aran, the girl behind the mask, the lonely girl, the sad girl, the one with no friends or family, and no personal ties to hold her down. The one girl in all the world. This is who I am.

* * *

_Ghosts of the Past_

--x--_  
_

Samus Aran, twenty one years old,

This day was like any other, or so I thought. I had no idea when I woke up that morning that it would be the beginning of a new era of my life.

I had just gotten home from, of all things, grocery shopping. That's something normal people do, right? I need to eat after all. I'm not actually a machine, even though I think I'd like to be sometimes. I put the bags away in the fridge without unpacking them. I'd just pick off them as I went till they were empty. I was tired; I just wanted to sleep, and hopefully, not to dream. My clothes made a trail to the bed as they were stripped away and fell to the floor; boots, socks and shorts; leaving me in just panties and a T-shirt as I crash down on my bed.

I laid sprawled out, staring at the ceiling, wanting, but unable to sleep. Sleep was something that never came easy for me. My mind was always active, and when trying to sleep I'd frequently think of the most mundane things: the mechanical health of my ship, and what needed to be done on it to keep it working; the smallest details of my last hunt; what I could have done differently to improve my performance, or playing out hypothetical battles in my head.

The unusual question that occupied me this particular night was nothing other than the nature of my own existence. I'm rarely plagued by thoughts of this nature, but for some reason this night I dwelled on them, perhaps because I hadn't been too busy with bounty hunting recently and had nothing else to think about. What was I doing with my life? Where was I going? Was this all there was to it, this dayin, day-out doldrum. Would this be how it is for the rest of my life? Going to remote places across the galaxy and hunting down the dregs of society, earning enough to keep me going, merely surviving, but not really living? I had the certain and unmistakable sense there was something missing. If only I could figure out what, maybe then I could have gone to sleep.

I sat up and rested my head on my knees, looking out the window by my bed, watching the city, the capital city of planet Kortalth, the capital world of the Federation. Living here put me in a fairly central location within the Federation, so I could easily travel to any part of it should I need to. I watched the lanes of ships coming and going from the city, staring at them blankly, hoping somehow the repetitive motion would lull me to sleep. Though as the night dragged on what eventually got me to sleep was just sheer exhaustion.

My previous hope of a dream free sleep would not be fulfilled though. And as always when I dream, I'd remember that time... when I was just a child...

--x--

Samus Aran, three years old,

I remember it began with fire from the sky. Weapons fire from the attacking ships I assume, though I didn't know that at the time. I didn't really know what was happening; only that it was big, loud, and scary, and that I just wanted it to stop, or at least to feel safe from it. My natural thoughts were that home would be the place to make me safe again. But I also had a strong urge to run away from the commotion. This was a problem however, since all the noise was coming from where my home was. In the end, home won out over the instinct to flee.

I had been playing in a field just outside the small settlement, so it took me a few minutes to reach the buildings. By the time I got there, things had become much worse. Most of the structures were on fire, and there were people in the streets; some of them running like I was, others just laying on the ground. I didn't understand that they were dead. In addition to the din of the weapons, passing ships, and roaring flames, the air was filled with the sound of screams unlike any I had ever heard before; screams so terrible that they alone would have been as frightening as the attack itself was. There were monsters there too. To me they looked like giant upright walking bugs. They were chasing and attacking the people that were not yet laying on the ground. This was my first brutal encounter with the Space Pirates.

I couldn't process all that was happening, and I didn't quite get the threat to my own life. I just ran blindly into the war zone, trying to get home, acting purely on instinct. The fire from the sky continued as I went. There was an explosion from behind and I fell to the ground. I could feel the stinging all over me; the spray of rocks and pebbles from the blast left me with many tiny scuffs and cuts. As I got up, I realized that I had fallen on top of one of the people laying on the ground. I stared at the body for only a moment, the reality still not registering, before continuing forward.

I could finally see my house in the distance. It too was in flames. Though it may have been obvious to an adult at that point, the sight of my home burning made me feel, for the first time, that things might not turn out ok for me. I started to panic and lost my way. I stumbled around, blinded by fear. There was too much motion and chaos; my eyes refused to focus.

Though faint, I heard my name called over the clamor of destruction. When I heard it a second time I was able to regain my focus and see that it was my mother coming to find me. She ran to me in a panic and all I could do was stagger forward. A sense of calm was returned to me and I felt that the safety that I was seeking was going to be mine. In the midst of that nightmare I actually found it in me to smile at the sight of my mother coming to save me.

She couldn't have been more than ten feet away when it happened... When she disappeared under the influence of a plasma bolt. It happened so quickly I didn't understand what I saw; she was there one second and not the next. Though what remained of her covered most surfaces in the area, including myself.

"Mama?" I questioned weakly.

I looked about, thinking she had moved some place else near by. I didn't find her of course, but what I did find was frightening beyond belief. A huge winged demon stood there, cackling wickedly, his bony frame shaking with laughter. The flames, thick black smoke, and smell of burning flesh were the perfect terrifying backdrop for this creature of pure fear.

From his mouth sprung a powerful beam of concentrated plasma, the same as the one from before, aimed off into the distance somewhere. He fired his natural weapon a couple more times in quick succession, laughing even more. He then slowly arched his head around to look right at me. I remember his eyes most prominently, a hideous and frightful yellow that seemed to practically glow with evil. He screeched at me and spread his wings; I thought I would be attacked for sure, and in fact I don't know if I was or not, because I had lost consciousness; fainted at the sight of the demon rearing up at me. This was by far my most vivid memory of that day.

When I came to, it was night. The fires and clouds of smoke that hung over the ruined colony gave everything an eerie orange tone. The demon and his minions were gone. All the people were gone. I was alone; a state I'd get quite accustomed to over the years. I stood up and walked around aimlessly. There was a horrible stench in the air; the smell of death. It was around this time that I learned what death was. As I moved through the ruin the sight of dead bodies was inescapable. I approached one of the more intact ones and knelt beside it.

"Get up," I said as I shook the body.

Getting no response I grabbed its arm, and with every ounce of strength in my tiny body, I pulled until I turned him over onto his back. I knew this man, though I can't remember who he was now; I think he worked with my father. As I stood there looking down on his face the realization hit me that he's not sleeping, but that he was... 'broken' was the word that my mind associated with death at the time, and that he wasn't going to move or talk or do anything else ever again except lay there. It then connected that this was true for my mother as well. I probably should have wept at that realization, but by then I was just too numb to cry.

I wandered for hours after that, mostly in circles, covering the same familiar territory over and over. As the night got late, the temperature on K-2L would drop significantly and the winds usually picked up. I was forced to take shelter in one of the ruined structures. Crawling into one of the many tiny crevices in the rubble, I managed to escape the elements and catch some sleep at least. When morning came, I was plagued by a burning sensation in my mouth; I hadn't had any water in a while and had been breathing smoke-filled air for hours. A bit more collected from my sleep, I thought I should find a source of water or something to drink. I knew nothing of survival techniques of course, I only knew that I was thirsty.

It took me hours of searching but I eventually found a source of water. In one of the less damaged buildings there was a broken pipe where clean, fresh water flowed. I drank until I thought I'd burst. Feeling refreshed, I went out to find food next, as I was very hungry as well. I went from place to place looking for something to eat, though I found nothing. Frustrated, I abandoned the search of the structure I was in and I crossed the street to search the next. But something caught my eye as I exited.

I saw several figures moving around in the distance, and they didn't look human. I feared the monsters had returned and went back to the wrecked building and hid under some debris. I could hear them approaching. I stayed as quiet as I could, hoping they wouldn't notice me. I held my breath as they passed by. Only after they had moved on did I let it out, though I did so a little too loudly and I heard them returning. I could hear them speaking to each other, but didn't understand the language. There was then movement inside the structure, getting closer and closer to me. Peaking out from beneath the scrap, I could see feet moving about on the floor.

Suddenly, a large piece of debris was lifted off of the pile, exposing me. I scuttled further back into the wreckage, terrified. I am trapped. A figure hunched down and looked at me from behind a green-tinted visor, and then it extended its goldcolored metallic-looking hand into the pile of rubble, trying to grab me. I have nowhere left to go. It spoke to me in its language, but I didn't understand. I saw on its other arm a fairly imposing looking cannon. The sight of the weapon frightened me even further. The figure then pulled back from the wreckage and then began to remove its crimson helmet.

The face underneath startled me. I was met with large, round, completely black eyes, a smooth round head covered in brown, slicked back feathers, and in the center of its face a large falcon-like beak. The bird squawked at me again in its language, though without the helmet it sounds shriller than before. The creature again tried to reach for me but was stopped by another of its kind, who laid a talon on its shoulder.The first bird retreated and the second one knelt in front of me. Instead of imposing space armor, this one wore a simple brown robe, its head covered with a hood. It was a lot shorter than the first and its face looked more aged, with lines and wrinkles pronounced enough to be visible under its feathers, and sagging skin from either side of its beak. When it spoke, it was in my language, and in a voice to match its face, sounding like an old man would.

"Come out, little one. We mean you no harm," he said in a surprisingly warm voice.

He extended his talon-like hand to me, not grabbing like the other one in armor had, but open and inviting me to take it.

"Come on then, I won't hurt you."

After a cautious, tense minute I finally took his hand and was gently pulled from the pile of debris. He stood me up in front of him, dusted me off, and smoothed out my wrinkled clothes.

"Are you injured in any way?"

I only shook my head in response. He checked me over anyway, examining my limbs and turning me around a couple of times.

"Is there anyone else here?" he asked.

I hesitated, not sure how to answer. There were other people before, but they were all 'broken' now.

"No..." I said faintly.

"What of your parents?"

The question caught me off guard and caused me to contemplate what I had avoided thinking about the entire time. I looked down at my blood-stained clothes, now knowing it was my mother's blood that I wore. I could only shake my head as tears filled my eyes and my chest started heaving without my consent. The bird man pulled me to him and picked me up as I sobbed uncontrollably on his shoulder.

He carried me out into the street, joining the others from his group. There were five in total; two of them wore that gold and red armor like the first one I had seen. Two others were dressed similar to the old bird that held me, wearing simple hooded robes. They squawked and chirped to each other in their strange language. It sounded similar to birds singing in the morning, only not quite as random. It had a strange rhythm to it that made it sound more intelligible, even if I couldn't understand it. After a while they stopped and the old bird spoke to me again.

"What is your name, little one?" he asked me.

"Sa- Samus," I managed with a voice hoarse from crying.

"Samus, is it?"

"Who... are you?"

"In your language they call us Chozo. We saw your settlement from space and came to see if everything was alright."

"It... it isn't."

"We can see that now. Listen, Samus, it's been decided that you will come to live with us."

"Oh...Ok," I said hesitantly, apprehensive about leaving the only place I knew as home. I had believed, even though everything was gone, that I would still always live there.

"You can't stay here after all," he said, as if he had seen my anxiety and instantly determined its cause.

I had no idea the life they had in store for me. Maybe if I had, I'd have chosen to simply waste away there on that now barren world. I find it strange that I remember it all so well; most children don't have such vivid memories of those earlier years. It's weird, because prior to that day, I don't have many clear memories at all; which is actually normal I suppose. I guess my normalcy was taken from me along with everything else. I stood in the bay of their ship as it rose into the air, looking out over the ruined settlement that was my home. It hit me then that everything I knew and everything I had ever known was gone, and that the only thing that survived of that place was myself.

--x--

I awoke a few hours later with a jump, out of breath, and soaked in sweat. At least I didn't get the shakes this time; although I usually wake up either the moment my mother is killed or when the demon lunges at me. I wondered why I remembered the Chozo this time; it had been a long while since I thought about them. Most of the time, when I wake up from the nightmare that is my past, I'm shaking with fear and completely unaware of my surroundings, and it takes me several minutes to come to my senses. I'm told I have post-traumatic stress disorder, of which nightmares and flashbacks are symptoms, as are emotional detachment, the numbing of feelings, heightened aggressiveness, and depression. I guess what I'm told is true. It's odd to see your personality summed up as a psychological disorder.

My shirt was drenched in sweat, making me even hotter than I was. I took it off and tossed it at the laundry basket, missing by about a foot. Getting up I went to the fridge and got myself something to drink. The cold air felt good on my bare chest, a welcomed relief from the heat, and I lingered with the door open a little longer that I otherwise would have. On my way back to bed my phone rang.

"Who the hell could that be this late?"

I answered the call and the image of a man in a military uniform appeared on the screen. I could tell by the insignia on his collar that he's an admiral.

"Miss Aran?"

"Yeah. What do you want?" I noticed him become distracted almost immediately upon seeing me, turning his eyes to the side somewhat.

"I'm... Admiral Jamison. The Federation wants your assistance with a particular problem." I detected a hint of nervousness in his voice. His eyes kept looking to me and then quickly away. I glanced down at my chest, realizing the only thing I had on was a pair of panties.

"What? You've never seen tits before?" I could see him squirm uncomfortably at this, which I enjoyed. "Now what the hell do you want? What problem?" I said, now more annoyed than anything else. I don't like government men to begin with, don't trust a one of them, and I discovered then I like it even less when they call me in the middle of the night asking for my help.

"Yes well... I can send you the full details once we have an agreement. It would be a contract job, payment received upon completion of the mission."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"The Space Pirates have stolen something from us, we want you to go in and make certain they aren't able to exploit it."

"Not interested." I hung up before he could answer.

Less than a minute later I got a second call.

"What part of 'not interested' don't you understa-- oh..." I stopped, realizing I'm talking to a different person entirely.

"Samus Aran?" the new person asked. Unlike the last guy, he isn't human, but a seloptian, the native species of this world and one of the founding members of the Federation. Not being human, he probably wouldn't be affected by my nudity. The government is full of seloptians and this particular one happened to be none other than the president. "This is President Ha'thail," he said, stating the obvious.

"I know who you are," I said lazily. "Look, I already told your lackey I'm not interested. You think I'll change my mind just 'cause you're the president?" I could see he wasn't accustomed to being spoken to that way, and it put him off guard. Again I derived some enjoyment from making him uncomfortable.

"Will you at least listen to what I have to say?"

I shrugged and waved my hand indicating for him to proceed. "Make it interesting or I'm hanging up and going back to bed."

"This is **a** precarious situation. The Space Pirates have stolen a very dangerous organism from us. It's imperative that we either get them back or destroy them before the pirates can make use of them."

"So just send your fleet. That's why you have a military, isn't it?"

"A military expedition takes resources; resources such as money. It would cost billions to mobilize an entire fleet and send them in. We are offering you five hundred thousand. It's far more economical for us," he said, though he was obviously lying. They didn't want to send troops so that they can deny any direct involvement or knowledge of? this organism. There would be no other reason they would involve outside help, especially if it was as important as he was making it out to be. And if they didn't want to be linked to it, then I figured I didn't need to be either.

"This isn't what I do... I catch criminals and fugitives, I don't fight one woman wars for hire. You want a mercenary, not a bounty hunter."

"Is there much difference these days?" He waits for me to answer but I don't feel like giving one to him. "Five hundred thousand is a lot of money. How much do you make per bounty head? Ten, twenty, fifty thousand at the most? We're offering you ten times as much. And if things work out there could be future opportunities for you."

"I do alright for myself. I make what I need to survive. I don't need any more."

"Then think of it as your patriotic duty as a citizen of the Federation, your nation needs--"

"Save that bull for the voters and your clean-cut toy soldiers. It won't work on me. There are plenty of other hunters out there, ask them. Why do you want me so bad?"

"Frankly? You're the best. I've seen your record. You have a 100 percent success rate. No hunter now or ever has accomplished such a feat. Honestly, your talent is going to waste on petty criminals."

I sighed in annoyance and looked away, unimpressed with this latest attempt to sway me. He leaned back in his chair as he received a file from an assistant.

"Have you ever heard of K-2L?"

Now I knew they'd been checking up on me. They wouldn't have known I'm originally from there without doing some serious investigating.

"Who hasn't?"

"Right. It was the site of one of the earliest and most brutal Space Pirate attacks on Federation soil."

"What's that have to do with this situation" I feign ignorance; I know exactly why he's bringing up my home.

"As you know, there were no survivors found. Yet... the colony manifest shows records of a three year old girl living there. Had she lived, she'd be about twenty one today."

"What's your point?"

"It's a tragedy, really. Such a young and innocent life cut so short. It's upsetting; in fact it's angering. It makes my blood boil just thinking about it. Those dammed Space Pirates. It makes me want to do something about it. Wouldn't you want to do something about it too? If not for yourself or for the Federation, then do it for that little girl. Avenge her death, show those pirates some justice."

"Rousing speech, Mr. President," I said as sarcastically as I can manage. "But I don't care about lost children and ghosts from long ago. I'd rather just forget it all."

"I see... Is there nothing I can do to make you reconsider?"

"I doubt it."

"At least let us send you the mission profile. Look it over, call if you change your mind."

"Fine, whatever," I said and finally hang up, relieved I don't have to talk to him any longer.

A few seconds later, the mission profile was received by my computer. I hit a button and produced a hard copy, which I took back to my bed to thumb through, just out of curiosity; I had no actual intention of taking the job. The organism they spoke of was called a Metroid, odd name I thought, a native to SR-388 and a subject of Federation research going on five years now. A few days prior a Federation research ship leaving SR-388 was hijacked and the captured Metroids were stolen. It was suspected that this ship was taken to a pirate base on planet...

I stopped reading, and blinked my eyes in disbelief. Planet Zebes, the place where I grew up under the supervision of the Chozo, was the site of the mission, for which the Federation had selected me, of all people. It couldn't have been a coincidence... but how could they have known I'd been raised there? It's not exactly something I advertise, and the Chozo didn't keep records like that. Even if they did, the Federation wouldn't have access to them. Was I chosen because of this, did they think I'd be more likely to take the job if I knew it involved returning to my old home? And how did they know?

I do briefly consider taking the job, but my previous logic won out again. I'm not a mercenary, this is not the type of work I do, and I don't really need the money. I shake the thought from my head and read on. There was information about Metroids; behavior, capabilities, and physiology. Something about an organic planetary defense computer called Mother Brain. I recall the Chozo having something like that on Zebes when I stayed there. The profile went on to estimate the size of the pirate force: a few hundred drones, some kind of enormous beast the pirates use as a guard, code named Kraid by the Federation, and...

I practically jumped back from the image; the papers were thrown to the floor on reflex. My hand was shaking... my heart was pounding. I clenched my fist tight and took a deep breath. Timidly, I picked the papers up off the floor one by one. I found the photo I dropped and matched it to the paper it was previously clipped to and set it aside on my bed, separate from the rest of the mission profile. It must have been ten minutes that I paced back and forth beside my bed, daring not to glance at the image again, wanting to know yet at the same time terrified to find out. I finally worked up the nerve to look again.

The glowing yellow eyes stared up at me from the photo as I leaned over the documents. Their intense gaze seemed to burn holes in the paper the photo was made out of. The face of the demon once again was in front of my eyes, without having to imagine or dream it. It awakened in me a fear I hadn't felt since that day long ago.

I read the attached paper; a bio of sorts, scraps of information the Federation had on the creature, which didn't amount to much. It was apparently a higher-up in the Space Pirate command structure, but it was unknown if it was their leader or not. Most of the information read like a rap sheet, listing past crimes, a long bloody history of hijackings, robbery, murder, mayhem, and slaughter. I'd expect nothing less from that demon. I quickly glanced through the list and finally got the confirmation I was looking for.

"Led the raid that destroyed Federation colony K-2L, and killed 327 colonists," the paper read.

"326," I spoke aloud, correcting the mistaken body count.

Quickly, I scan the paper for the final piece of information I desire; the name. The name of the one who took everything I ever knew; the name of the one who put me in hell, both physically on that day, and mentally for so many years after; the name of my mother's murderer. The name printed on the paper. The name... Ridley.

Armed with this new knowledge, I once again took the photo in hand and looked at it. The eyes stared back at me, only I was no longer afraid. My fear had quickly given way to something else; not entirely anger or vengeance, but determination, determination to no longer be haunted by that face, and the sense of purpose that I lacked before. I crumpled the photo into a ball and clenched my fist tightly around it. Something had changed in me at that moment, I can't quite say what exactly, but I no longer wanted to run from the past and forget it existed, I wanted to... no, I was compelled to confront it head-on. Included with the documents given to me was a contact number; Admiral Jamison's direct line.

With more clarity and certainty than I have ever had in my life, I got up from my bed, crossed the room, and dialed the phone.

Close log

--x--

* * *

Next Chapter: _Learning to Fly_


	2. Learning to Fly

_Usual legal disclaimer: I don't own Samus or Metroid or any other Nintendo character_

_Thanks to alleycat1312 ( FFN user780314 ) for beta reading._

* * *

_Learning to Fly_

---x---

Samus Aran, fourteen years old,

This day marked yet another major change for me. It was the end of the chapter of my life that began eleven years before, when I was rescued by the Chozo. And it was the beginning of the chapter that would last for another seven years, which would end when I started working directly for the Federation.

Looking back on my life as a whole, I see it as four distinct parts, the first being when I was a small child and lived with my birth parents. Having little to no clear memories of that time, I don't really consider it that significant. The latest period, being now, working for the federation as a bounty hunter/mercenary, taking on jobs no one else wants or is capable of doing. A time marked by fame, recognition, respect, and even wealth. This time is what most people know me for, and isn't worth retelling here.

Another distinct period is the time I lived with the Chozo. It's ironic, because while it was the most abnormal period of my life, for me it's when I felt the most normal, probably because I didn't know any different way to live. During this time I learned most of what I know today, the skills I use in my missions to earn me all that fame. Under the watch of the Chozo I learned how to fight and wage war, how to use my powersuit and other skills I'd need to survive, such as hunting and foraging, as well as how to use and repair machines. Though, I would come to realize there were many things I wasn't taught, as this chapter of my life ended and the third began.

I was busy training at the time, as I was almost all the time, and had just finished a sort of makeshift obstacle course. Towers of rock, carved out by eons of winds on the surface of Zebes, stood tall in the chasm behind me. I had managed to cross the canyon by leaping from pillar to pillar, alternating between jumps and hand springs. It was a ridiculous and contrived exercise that would have been infinitely easier with my powersuit, but then there would have been no point in it. When I first started doing stunts like that they terrified me. But after nearly eleven years they had become routine, just another blasé part of my life, and they didn't really bother me anymore.

As I sat there on the edge of the cliff, catching my breath, I was approached from behind; unaware he'd been watching me. I still needed to work on being more attentive to my surroundings.

"That was excellent, Samus. I think you've mastered precise control over your movements."

"Grandpa?"

"You will make a better warrior than any of us ever could."

"Why do you say that?" 

"Our race lacks the ferociousness and tenacity necessary for battle. You humans are a fascinating breed, capable of both great and terrible things."

"Huh?"

"You are a young race compared to most of the galaxy's inhabitants, but you show promise. You only need to be shown the right path."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Samus, walk with me. I have something to discuss with you."

I left my spot by the cliffs and went with him, not understanding what he was talking about. I'm not sure even now what he meant exactly, though I think he was trying to point me in the right direction for the future. Or maybe he was just trying to sound philosophical and introspective. Living among them, I had developed a sense that the Chozo simply liked to hear themselves talk.

We walked across the mostly barren, rocky landscape of Zebes, back towards our settlement, and he was uncommonly quiet for some time. "What did you want to talk about?" I asked.

"What was the last thing you learned from us?"

"Um, I learned how to jump that gorge..."

"No, that was something you accomplished by practicing. What was the last thing we taught you?"

"I... don't really remember."

"That is because it has been quite a while, has it not?"

"I guess."

"Samus, there is nothing more we have to teach you. However there are a great many things you have yet to learn."

"Like what?"

"That too, you must learn for yourself."

"I don't understand. Is this some kind of test?"

"No, Samus, it is time you left the nest."

"Leave?"

"Yes. You have been taught how to shoot your cannon accurately; you have been taught how to attack and avoid being attacked; you have learned all the ways and tricks of battle; you have learned how to survive and live off the land. You have not only learned these things, but have become a master of them. Now it is time for you to learn to fly."

"Fly? But not even you can do that."

"I do not mean literally. Samus, we Chozo are not long for this world. This group here is the last. And soon we too will have gone on to the next world."

"You're... Are you going to die?"

"No. We will no longer be part of this world, but we will live on. Our society is ancient; for hundreds of millennia we have watched over the galaxy. We have accomplished all there is to accomplish, mastered every science, explored every corner of creation, answered every question. There is nothing left for us here. It is time to let the other races shine, let them have their turn. There are... higher planes of existence, other dimensions for us to explore. Most of our race has migrated there already; it will not be long until we go as well.

"And... and what should I do then?"

"Live. But not here. Rejoin your human brethren. Learn who you are and where you come from. Use what we have taught you to forge your own path. Follow what you know to be right and I have faith that you will become someone truly great."

"I... I don't want to go. This is my home. I don't want to lose that... not a second time... I... I don't care about being great! I just want to stay here." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Sending me away from the place I called home, and after what happened to my last one. Didn't he understand? Didn't he get how much it would hurt to make me go through that again?

"If you stay you will be all alone. You do not have to become a great person if you don't want to. I only thought it would be something for you to aspire to. It is your life. Live it as you wish, but for your own sake, do not do it here." 

I wanted to push the issue further, and I could have, but I had learned long since that arguing with a Chozo, especially Grandpa, was an exercise in futility. Always, their superior logic and reasoning, and relentless, long winded lectures wore down any resolve I had, no matter how right I thought I was. I'd just given up trying to disagree with them. I sighed in defeat.

"Come child," he said, placing his talon on my shoulder, and guiding me along. We walked for a while longer and came to a landing pad where their one and only ship had been docked. It wasn't even a Chozo ship, just a rundown Federation freighter that my grandpa had acquired some years before.

"Here," he said, handing me its ignition chip. "Do not think I have not noticed you eyeing it for some time now."

"You're giving me this?"

"We will not need it where we are going. In fact, it is impossible to take with us. You know how to pilot it, correct? I have seen you on the simulator."

"Yeah."

"Well off you go then. I wish you the best in whichever path you choose. Farewell."

"What! You want me to leave now? Can't... can't I stay a while longer?" I didn't expect he meant right then when he said I was to leave.

"As I said, you would be doing it alone."

"Then... can't you stay a while longer too?"

"We have already delayed for a few years now. The few of us have stayed behind only to make sure you were looked after until you were ready to fly on your own."

"But... don't I need supplies?" I said in a flimsy attempt to make excuses.

"The ship has already been stocked; you have every thing you need to reach the heart of the Federation."

"But I just... I... can't I have some time?"

"We are due to depart this world as well very soon. I have other preparations to attend to. There is nothing to be gain**ed** by delaying."

"Ugh, Al-alright."

"Samus, there is one thing you should consider before you leave. The powersuit we have given you is a very powerful weapon, use it responsibly. It is a tool, not a crutch, and certainly not a toy; you should not use it unless it is necessary."

"I... I understand." I turned to leave but only got a few steps before I turned back around to face him again. "Grandpa?"

"Yes? What is it?"

"Umm... Uh..." Without thinking I threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly. I'm not sure if he understood; hugging just wasn't something the Chozo did. Nor I for that matter, but it was one of the very few things I remembered from my early childhood, and it just felt like something that I should do. "Thank you..." I said, "For everything."

"I know this appears difficult to you; you are still so very young by human standards. But I know you. You have the strength to overcome any hardship. This will be nothing for you," he said **matter**-of-factl**y**.

For the highly intelligent beings that they were, I don't think the Chozo comprehended human emotions; I never got that sense while living with them. I didn't realize the deficiency back then because I had nothing to compare to, but it's obvious to me now having had more experience with my own kind. And it's clear to me that it had an affect on me, as I similarly have trouble recognizing emotions in others and even in myself sometimes.

"Yes... you're right, as always," I said as I released him. "Well, I... I should be going now. Uh... goodbye."

"Farewell, Samus."

I nodded and turned, then proceeded up the drop ramp into the ship. As I climbed into the pilot's seat, I wasn't sure how I should feel. I was very conflicted. I wanted to be scared and apprehensive about this sudden change, but that went against all the training I had received; I couldn't allow myself to feel fear. I wanted to be angry with Grandpa for forcing this on me, but I realize**d** he'd been sticking around and putting off what he needed to do solely for my benefit, so I couldn't be mad. I realized that I was losing my only family for the second time and that I would once again be the only survivor. But I also knew I'd take a piece of them with me. In addition to their technology, the powersuit, I held both their teachings and their blood within me; I alone would now carry on their legacy.

The ship started as I inserted its ignition chip and its security code was verified. I took the controls and lifted the ship off the pad, then piloted it up and out of Zebes' atmosphere. Once clear of the planet, I opened the nav-computer and saw the course already laid out by the Chozo that took me to a Federation world called Perata VII, a world in the center of federation space less than a parsec from the capital world, Kortalth. I engaged the warp drive and the ship took off along the preset course. The slow freighter took several days to get there, during which time I mostly slept or did exercises, and just tried to keep my head clear of worrying thoughts.

Perata VII wasn't a terrestrial planet but a gas giant. The inhabitants lived in space colonies; massive orbiting space stations that were self-contained cities with populations in excess of eight hundred thousand each. There were slightly over a thousand stations in total. The only inhabited terrestrial body in the Perata system was Perata IV's largest moon, which was home to a small mining operation. The place I docked was called PC-304, short for Perata Colony number 304, a large cylinder about 8km long and 2.5km in diameter.

I flew my ship through a docking port on the exterior of the station and landed in the docking bay. As the drop ramp lowered I peered out of the ever widening crack until I could see the massive docking bay in its entirety. There must have been several hundred ships parked there. I stood at the foot of the ramp and looked around at my surroundings.

"Ok... What now?"

I was truly at a loss. There I was, alone, in a completely unfamiliar environment, with no idea where to go or what I was supposed to do. Every day for the past eleven years I knew exactly what I was supposed to do, as I was given constant instruction. Now I had to decide for myself, as my grandpa said 'Forge my own path'. I had no idea how I was going to do that. I didn't even have a goal to work towards; if I had that I could at least figure out the means to get there and would have some direction to head in. As it was I felt like a lost little child... which is exactly what I was.

For a long while I sat at the foot of my ship mulling over my situation. Finally deciding action was more my way, I figured I'd just get up and go, and see were I wound up. The first place to go was to leave the docking bay, and when I stepped outside I was surprised by the interior of the station. It almost felt like I was outdoors. The entire thing was completely hollow, and to my surprise had dirt, grass and trees everywhere. The inhabitants of the station lived on the interior surface of the cylinder, so when I looked up half expecting to see sky, only saw the opposite side of the cylinder, which was just more ground. It had the look of an aerial view of the landscape. It was disconcerting to see land above my head, and I couldn't help but feel like it would fall on me, even though I knew that was impossible; the rotation of the station simulated gravity at the surface and if anything fell it would fall outward, away from the station.

Getting over this unusual environment, I continued forward down the road that lead away from the docking bay. I was apparently in a town or city. There were many medium to large size buildings, though I could certainly see larger cities spotting the interior of the station. That was another odd thing about this kind of environment. Because the land curved upward instead of down there was no horizon, and the entire 'globe' was visible from any point on it.

The second unusual thing I became aware of was the people. There were so many of them. On Zebes it was just me and about twenty Chozo on the entire planet. Here there were slightly less than a million people living on what was a relatively small amount of land: sixty four square kilometers, I later learned. There were many humans here as well. Even though they were a fairly recent addition to the federation, which consisted of nearly sixty different races, over thirty percent of its population was human; based on just a cursory glance that percentage was much higher on PC-304. Other than myself, I hadn't seen another living human in over a decade, the majority of my life up to that point.

As I made my way through the busy part of town, I couldn't help but stare at the other humans. They all had parts like me. I was particularly fixated on their faces and hands. I held my own hand in front of me and visually compared it to those of the people I passed on the street. I stopped in front of a window and stared at my reflection in the glass, inspecting the features of my face. I was remarkably human, just like so many of the people there. There was a woman sitting in front of a store near me, I couldn't help but stare at her. I approached and held my hand up to hers, comparing.

"Can I help you?" she said and recoiled from me.

"You're... human."

"Yeah, and...?"

"I'm human too."

"I can see that... what do you want?" She sounded irritated and I found it strange that she responded to me in such a way, as I had never experienced an attitude like that before. Even if they were cold, the Chozo were never rude.

"Oh, n-nothing... never mind." I nervously backed away and left.

As the novelty of seeing other beings of my own species wore off, I found myself with the same problem I had before; having no direction or goal to work towards and feeling completely lost, even if I knew exactly where I was. I decided to return to my ship to think things through and start over. I entered the docking bay, and as I approach**ed** my ship I saw a couple of people standing on the drop ramp.

Curious as to what they were doing near my ship, I approached them. But before I could reach them the drop ramp closed, then the ship lifted off, hovered through the air, and then exited through the air lock in the floor. I only stood and watched, not understanding what I was seeing.

I went up to a person who appeared to be working there and asked him about it. He had a floor plate open and had his head buried in a mess of cables and wires.

"Where did those people take my ship?"

"What people? Who are you?" he said, pulling his head from the hole in the floor. Again, this guy sounded annoyed that I was talking to him.

"I'm Samus. The people who left in my ship."

"Who left in your ship?"

"People. I don't know them."

"People you don't know left in you ship?"

"Yes. When will they come back? I have to get some supplies from there."

"Kid, your ship was stolen, it ain't coming back."

"Stolen?"

"Who the hell would give a child a ship anyway? Serves you right," he muttered as he went back to work, sticking his head back in the hole in the floor. Was being impolite just part of being human?

I hadn't recognized the need to secure my ship, so I had left it open with the ignition chip still in it. I was completely unaware of the concept of crime and that people would just take things that didn't belong to them if they had the opportunity. I knew what the word meant but it never occurred to me that it was something that actually happened and that I needed to protect myself from it. At the time, in my mind the only bad things in the world were the kind that just showed up out of the blue and destroyed homes and killed people's mothers. I wasn't aware of the lesser forms of evil that existed.

Now, with my ship gone, I was more lost than ever. I needed to get it back I had a weeks worth of food and water in there. Dejected, I left the hanger and walked back into town. With nothing to do and nowhere to go I wandered aimlessly again. For what seemed like a lot longer than it probably was, I walked until I came across a local police station. I stared at the building blankly until it clicked. If this was a crime then I needed to see the police about it. The logic seemed simple to me; I'd go to the police and they would hand me my ship back. That's how it worked.

I entered the lobby of the station and approached a young officer behind a counter. The name on his badge read Peter Ames Jansen.

"My ship was stolen. I want it back now," I told him bluntly.

"I see." He reached under the counter and produced a P.A.D. with a form on its screen. "Tell your parents they need to fill this out, and we can begin to process--"

"I don't have parents."

"Uh! ...Well, whoever your guardian is then."

"What's a guardian?"

"The person who takes care of you, who you live with. Come on, you're a big girl now, you should know these things."

"I don't have anyone like that. I'm by myself."

"By yourself? Oh... Then **whose** ship are you reporting stolen?"

"I told you it's my ship. Can't I just fill out the form?"

"Why does a little girl like you have her own ship?"

"My grandpa gave it to me. Can I get it back now?" I said flatly, annoyed at his age reference, didn't he just say I was a big girl, I wished he'd make up his mind already.

"Oh so it's your grandfather's ship. He's your guardian then."

"No, he gave it to me, then made me leave. I don't have a guardian."

"Made you leave? He kicked you out? Honey, he can't do that, it's illegal; he can't just kick a child out onto the streets. Where does he live?"

"Zebes. But he's not there anymore. He left."

"Zebes! You're not... Are you new on the station?"

"I just got here today."

"And you came here by yourself... Well you should have registered when you arrived. What is your name?"

"Samus Aran. What does this have to do with getting my ship back?"

"Look, I'm sorry kid, but it's not that simple. First fill out that form, and..." he retrieved another P.A.D with a different form and gave it to me. "Fill out this resident registration form as well. Then we can see about investigating the theft of your ship."

"Ok." I took the forms and sat down in the lobby.

The one he gave me to report my ship stolen was easy enough to complete, though it took a wile and was very tedious. The other form however, was near impossible to fill out, filled with questions about personal information and history that someone with a normal background would have little trouble answering, but I was anything but normal. I quickly learned that filling out forms was something I disliked intensely, which is something that hasn't changed to this day. Several times I found myself getting frustrated and taking a break, stopping to just look around the police station at anything other than the form.

I eventually gave up. The only things I knew were: name, gender, and species. So I gave the forms back to him with just that information.

"I didn't know most of the things on that one," I explained.

He glanced it over. "That's alright. Most people leave some things blank. The computer can search through the database and see if there are any human girls named Samus Aran who are... Hmm you don't know how old you are?"

"I'm fourteen."

"You left 'date of birth' blank."

"I don't remember the date."

"Oh... well ok." He then looked over the theft report.

"When will you get my ship back?"

"Check again tomorrow. But you should know stolen ships are rarely recovered, intact at least. I'm sorry, we just don't have the resources to go looking for every stolen item."

"Oh... then... I'll go look myself!" I said and left abruptly, running from the police station in an attempt to track down my ship. I think I heard Jansen telling me to wait but I didn't listen.

It didn't take me long to realize the futility of my search however, and my growing hunger helped in that regard. All my supplies were on the ship so I would have to find some other source of food. On Zebes the Chozo grew everything in gardens, and if you wanted meat you would have to hunt for it. I saw no gardens here; the only vegetation on PC-304 was grass and fruitless trees. And after a short time I realized there was no wildlife either. It was a rather sterile and mechanical environment; the plants were there only to produce oxygen. I really missed Zebes.

I knew there had to be food, however, because these people needed to eat. I returned to the denser part of town and looked around but to no avail. I walked up to one man on the street. "Where can I get food?" I asked him. He just shrugged and went on his way, obviously not wanting to bother with a complete stranger. Dejected, I continued on and asked a couple more people. I got similarly evasive responses, and was getting frustrated at how uncooperative everyone on this station seemed to be.

It then hit me, the smell of food. It came from the building I was passing. The front of this place was mostly glass windows, and inside I could see people sitting down to eat. With much haste, I entered the diner and went up to the counter. On the wall above the counter were the pictures and names of different dishes. I went through the entire list reading the names of each. My mouth watered at the combined sight of them and the smell of food that hung heavy in the place. I finally decided on something called steak. I'd never heard of it before but from the image it looked like meat. I got the attention of the clerk, a green skinned, large eyed alien with a wide toothless mouth; he reminded me of a frog. Calling him over, I ordered the steak from him.

"One twenty nine," the clerk said in a boorish tone, and stared expectantly at me.

"Hmm? One twenty nine what?" I said truly confused.

"It's a hundred and twenty nine credits."

"What is?"

"Your food. You have to pay for it, you ignorant little whelp." Apparently it wasn't just humans, everyone here was irritable.

"Pay? With... credits? I don't understand."

"You don't under-- Kid, if you don't have any money, then get the hell out."

"Money?" I looked to the board again I see the number 129, and a strange character I'd never seen before, listed next to the dish I ordered. "Oh..." was all I could say.

"Out," he repeated, his arm extended to the door.

I walked out again. Depressed and hungry, I leaned against the wall right outside the diner, arms folded and eyes closed. 'This isn't going too well,' I thought. 'Grandpa, what am I supposed to do?'

As I left the diner, I noticed the sign above its door, and upon closer inspection realized that a lot of the buildings were labeled similarly. It then clicked that these signs indicated what kind of place the building was.

I continued walking, aimlessly. It was all I could do. It was better than sitting still and doing nothing. At least I didn't feel sedentary. It must have been hours that I walked; I ended up on the other side of the station. It was getting dark now, which I thought odd considering this was an artificial environment, but I guessed it made sense to simulate a daynight cycle. I began to feel tired now as well.

Using what I learned from the diner and the signs, I located a building called a hotel, I only knew it was some place to sleep because it had an icon of a bed on its sign. I entered the lobby of the tall building and went up to the desk. Before I even spoke to the clerk I noticed a sign that said rooms were eight hundred credits a night. I left.

Walking more, I found myself on a busy street with many people passing by even though it was so late and dark. I was weary, lost, and hungry, and I found it increasingly difficult to continue walking. The secluded alleyway I had just passed now looked quite inviting. I sat down against the wall and pulled my knees up in front of me.

'I've sure made a mess of this situation.' I cursed myself for being so careless with the ship, and I cursed myself for failing so miserably at this task, the last task my grandpa had given me. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, and prayed I didn't dream. I didn't need to deal with _that_ on top of everything else.

I awoke in the middle of the night, shivering; I was terribly cold. Apparently at night they let the temperature drop by nearly fifteen degrees Celsius, to save on energy consumption. I was tempted to activate my armor. My hand slid into the pocket of my simple off-white jumpsuit, clutching the powersuit's storage unit. But then I remembered grandpa's words: the powersuit is a tool, not a crutch. I instead wrapped myself in discarded newspapers and tried to fall back asleep.

* * *

To be continued... 


	3. Learning to Fly: Part Two

_Learning to Fly_

_Part Two_

---x---

The following morning, I sat there staring blankly at the opposite wall of the alley, no longer possessing the mental strength to move without first having some actual place to go. I had slept but I wasn't rested. My body ached all over. The ground was hard, and the night was cold, I could still feel it in my bones. I was hungrier than ever.

If I was to survive in this world I would need money; that much was clear to me now. 'One of those things I needed to learn for myself, huh grandpa?' I missed him and my home on Zebes.

As I stretched away the ache in my back, I noticed in the newspaper, which served as my blanket, the symbol for federation credits printed again and again next to numerical amounts. At the top of the page, in large print it said: "Jobs", and just below that in slightly smaller print, "Earn Money Today". Below there were dozens of tiny boxes, each, in some form or another, listed an amount of money, an address, and a vague description of what needed to be done. I figured this was as good a lead as any and decided to pursue it.

The first place I went to was a docking bay, similar to the one I docked in. Only this place wasn't for passenger ships to park, it was where all the supplies the station needed were brought in. They wanted someone to off-load incoming cargo from the supply ships onto smaller vehicles to be moved around the station. It involved operating a forklift and paid fifty five credits for every hour of work done. I was told right up front I was too young and shooed away. I can't begin to explain how frustrating it was getting to be made to feel like less of a person because of my age.

The next place I went paid an even better rate of eighty credits an hour, and was something I was familiar with; it involved repairing machines. I was to be part of a crew that went around the station fixing various systems that had ceased functioning. They didn't seem to care about how young I was, the only thing I had to do was demonstrate an ability to perform the required work. As such, a test was administered; a damaged machine was placed in front of me and I was timed on how long it took me to figure out what was wrong. This would be simple; I'd done things like this a hundred times back on Zebes.

In this instance I was given a plasma injector from a micro reactor, a type of redundant power plant used around the station, as it had no central reactor core. As soon as I opened the casing I knew I was in trouble. I wasn't at all familiar with the design, in fact the type of technology was completely foreign to me, and it looked much more complex than anything I dealt with previously. I was certain if I was given the time I could learn it easily enough but that didn't seem to matter to the employer. They wanted someone experienced to put to work right away. I was again ushered away.

The description in the paper for the last place was especially vague, but it seemed to indicate being female was preferable. So I figured I'd have a better chance here. The guy I met, I thought, looked particularly unkempt, and this was coming from someone who had slept in an alley the night before.

"I came about this..." I pointed to the ad in the paper.

"You? Aren't you a bit young?" I swear I would have hit him if I didn't think it would hurt my chances at getting the job.

"I need money," I explained.

"Hmm..." He looked me over and began to circle me. It was then that I got a bad feeling about him, something about the way he was looking at me made me uncomfortable. "Well, as I said, you are a bit young, and you don't got much going on up top. But I guess some guys will go for that."

"Go for what?" I looked at him suspiciously.

"Alright...Come upstairs and I'll try you out; see if you're any good. You got all your shots don't ya'? No diseases, right?"

He gave me a sinister feeling, and I felt like I had to get out of there. I was naïve and didn't know what he really expected of me; it wasn't till years later that I realized exactly what I had walked into. Thankfully my instincts were sharper than my reason.

"Uh... I... I have to go," I said cautiously. It could have gone very badly and I'm glad I got out of there when I did.

Just one dead end after another, and now I was back where I started... and I still hadn't eaten. If I didn't have the energy of youth on my side I would probably have gone back to that alley, laid down, and never gotten back up again. But I was determined not to give up, and instead decided to return to the police station on the remote possibility that my ship had been recovered.

I hated this place. I wanted more than ever to go home, and if I still had my ship I would have. Despite Grandpas advice I would have still gone back and lived there on Zebes, even if I would have been all alone. I understood that world; I knew how to live there. Besides, I was alone here anyway; even if there were people all around, I was completely alone. Since the day I was rescued by Grandpa from the ruins of K-2L, I haven't cried once, even to the present day, but at that moment I almost felt like I would.

As I entered the station, Officer Jansen from the day before greeted me when I entered.

"Sorry, kid, no news on your ship," he said before I even had a chance to ask.

"Oh... well, I guess I'll try back tomorrow." I turned to leave.

"Samus, wait," he called to me.

"Yeah?" I was surprised he remembered my name.

"Come here for a second." He came out from behind the counter and sat on the bench along the wall. I walked over and sat next to him.

"Are you going to arrest me for not registering right away?"

"What? No. Listen... Let me ask you: You don't have any family on the station do you; no one to stay with?

"No. I don't..."

"The thing is, I was talking about you last night... with my wife. And... well we don't have any kids of our own... so... since you're on your own here we thought that, if you want, you can come to stay with us."

At first I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was this person actually showing me kindness? This was the first positive thing that happened to me since I got to the station and probably the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me since I was adopted by the Chozo. However I also got a very uncertain feeling about it as well and it made me hesitate.

"Maybe... I don't know... I'll think about it," I said and then quickly left. Again he called after me to stop; again I didn't heed his plea.

Why had I not jumped at the offer? What was I thinking? I was probably going to starve to death here and I had to think about it? Though as much as I wanted to accept I knew what it really meant: that I failed, that I had given up. I wasn't ready to accept defeat just yet. My prideful and stubborn side had shown itself for one of the first times. His offer felt like yet another person treating me like a helpless child, which by now was something I was growing to hate. It actually made me feel good about myself not to have given in.

I often look back on that moment and wonder. What would my life be like now had I taken his offer? How different a person would I be? I sometimes think that that was my greatest mistake ever. Other times I think it was a disaster averted.

Although I thought highly of myself for not caving, not giving into weakness, I was still feeling quite low as my situation had not improved any. I was a failure regardless; I felt completely useless. Could grandpa see me like this from his higher place of existence? He said he knew I could handle it when I had left him. Would I be a disappointment to him? He seemed to have such lofty hopes for me... 'Become someone truly great?'

"Right... I can't even feed myself."

I trudged down the street with my head hung. My hunger was making itself known more and more. It had been nearly a day and a half since I last ate anything, my neck and back ached from sleeping in an alley, and I nearly got hypothermia the night before.

'This can't get much worse,' I thought.

Though, as much as I hated it, it was still nothing to me. It was nothing compared to that fateful event that set the stage for the rest of my life. If I could survive that hellish ordeal then I could survive being hungry and alone.

Because I wasn't watching where I was going, I bumped into another person on the street and staggered backwards.

"Hey watch it, stupid kid. Get out'a my way," came the gruff voice of the person I'd bumped into.

I looked up to see a seven foot tall, muscle bound, mountain of an alien. I didn't know what his species was called, but he had four arms, dark leathery reddish brown skin, and pupil-less purple eyes. His face had a nasty scar from his jaw up to just above his ear, which was merely a hole on the side of his head.

"S-sorry..." I was a bit shocked by the size of him.

I turned and continued on my way, when I suddenly realized I recognized him. His face was incredibly familiar to me. I knew I had seen him somewhere before. I was sure of it because of the scar. ... The police station! There was a hologram of him, among other criminals, on the wall. As I sat filling out that paper work the day before I stared at it for nearly an hour. It said: "Reward: 25,000 credits," below his face.

I was unsure exactly what that meant, but I had an idea, and the only way to be certain was to take this guy to the police station and find out. I also knew that twenty five thousand credits could get me a ton of food and put me up in a hotel room for several weeks. Without a second thought I chased after him, following behind him for a ways, until I eventually caught up to him in a deserted lot behind a building. He went over to the corner behind a trash heap and removed a tarp revealing a crate of some kind.

"Hey!" I shouted making my presence known. He turned looking a bit startled.

"What-- what do you want Did you follow me here?" He said nervously, while moving slightly to obstruct my view of the crate he had. "Oh... You're that human from before. Take off if you know what's good for you."

"Are you the one with your picture in the police station?"

"Huh?"

"If I bring you there, do I get the twenty five thousand credits?"

"What? You're after my bounty? A brat like you?"

"If it's true, then would you come to the police station with me I really need that money, I lost my ship and I don't have any money for food and--"

"Ha ha ha! You're joking, right? I'm not going anywhere with you. Now get lost before I decide to kill you."

"You won't come willingly then?"

"What, do you think I'm stupid? Of course I won't!" I think he rolled his eyes at me, but I couldn't tell since they were one solid color.

"Then you leave me no choice, I really need that money." I squared off against him and took a fighting stance.

"You're not serious... You think you can take me down? You're nothing but a child. "

That was the wrong thing to say. I launched myself at him; running at full speed, I leapt and delivered a spin kick to the side of his head. I fell to the ground and hit my head hard, but my foot hurt worse. He, apparently, was unfazed. It felt like kicking a solid rock, and I thought I had broken my foot.

I had let anger get the better of me and rushed in without thinking and paid the price because of it. Another lesson I had to learn on my own. Agonizingly, I stood back up. I was in pain but I could stand; I hadn't broken any bones.

"Ok twerp, now you're asking for it." He reached behind him and pulled out an energy pistol and fired at me. Fortunately, I was faster than him; as soon as I saw the weapon I had jumped out of the way and was already in the air by the time he fired at where I had been standing. He fired a second time, but I jumped again and kicked off the wall to my right, flipped through the air over his head, and landed behind him.

'Alright grandpa, I think this situation counts.' I took the small disk from my pocket that stored the armor while it was dormant. I swiped my thumb across its surface, and as my Chozo blood was recognized, it activated. Its form quickly materialized over my body, its variable nature allowing it to fit perfectly on my then much shorter frame.

He turned around to look at me and was obviously confused. "What the hell? Where did she--"

I didn't give him time to finish however. I delivered another kick to his face; same attack, same foot, same head, very different result. He was knocked down and back, into the wall. I took a short hop backwards, closer to the center of the abandoned lot, putting some distance between us.

As he regained his bearings he aimed his gun at me again, but with one well aimed shot I disarmed him before he could fire. The weapon was knocked from his upper right hand. He clutched the pained appendage with his other right hand, while he reached for the crate with both his left. I fired a second time, the shot grazing his fingers. He quickly retracted his hand and clutched the singed flesh.

"Enough! I yield," he said, and put up all four of his hands.

With my cannon still aimed at him, I approached, opened the crate, and looked inside. It was filled with weapons, all energy pistols of the same model as the one he had carried. 'So that's why he had reached for it when I disarmed him.' I preformed a scan on him, searching for more weapons, and my visor detected a knife strapped to his ankle under his pant leg.

"Damn kid! Where'd you get armor like that?"

I stuck my cannon right in his face while I reached down and took his knife away and tossed it aside.

"Will you come with me now?"

"You're not leaving me much choice, now are you?"

"I guess I ain't. Now, get moving."

"Yeah, yeah," he complained as he got to his feet.

I marched him down the street towards the police station, keeping a few paces behind him. Somewhere along the way I let my armor dissolve away, as I didn't really need it just to walk down the street. He apparently didn't want to test his luck and didn't try anything while my defenses were supposedly down; smart move on his part as they are almost never down.

This was my very first bounty, and it wasn't something I planned or chose; it just happened on the spot. It was like the profession chose me, rather than the other way around. Even then, as I walked my first catch back to the police to collect my first reward, I didn't expect this to be a way of life for me. I only thought of it as something I did then and there to make some quick money.

As we entered the police station we received several gasps of shock. I saw Officer Jansen staring at me.

"I brought that guy..." I said pointing to his hologram. "I can get money now?"

"Samus! What... what are you doing?" said Jansen.

"That sign says I get money if I bring this guy in here. Right?"

"Someone... someone get some cuffs on him," he yelled out and a couple of other officers came over and put restraints on the alien and led him away.

"Samus," he said walking up to me, "How--, you--, where did you..." he stammered in disbelief. "I don't know how you managed to do it but... Samus, that was incredibly dangerous, you shouldn't be anywhere near criminals like that. What in the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking about those twenty five thousand credits... I do get them... don't I?"

"Well, I... I guess so, but... Listen, I don't want you to do that ever again. Understand?"

"But what if I need money again later? This was easy and I get so much, and it seems a lot better than all those other jobs I looked at. Did I do something wrong? I thought that was what the sign was for, right?"

"Yes but, you could have been killed--"

"No I couldn't!" Now I was annoyed at him now; I thought he was trying to insult me. It didn't register with me then that he was concerned. "That guy was pathetic; he wasn't even a challenge to me. I really think you should give me my money now." I said stubbornly.

"Not a challenge? Samus, that was a major illegal arms dealer, he's been wanted for months. He sells banned armor piercing plasma pistols on the street. You're very lucky he didn't have any on him."

"Oh I almost forgot, he did have one on him, and he had a whole big box full too."

"Uh... a big box... I... "

"Can I have my money now?" I said angrily, by now it felt like he was stalling and I wanted what I believed I was owed at this point.

"Yeah... yeah sure... come on," he said defeated. He took me down the hall to a window with a woman behind it. He explained to her the situation, and I had to fill out more paperwork. "You should know... if you seriously plan on doing this for a living , you need to register officially as a hunter. Depending on what level of government issued the bounty, you may need a license to be a hunter; otherwise you might not get paid."

"I won't get paid?" I said anxiously, looking up from the form I was filling out.

"No, no... You'll get paid for this one. That bounty was issued by the PC-304 local authority. If it had come from Perata VII's central government or the Federation's main office, and you didn't have a license, then they wouldn't be obligated to pay the bounty."

"Oh..."

"I seriously can't believe you. This is crazy..." he sighed. "Well just stay here and fill out that form then the woman there will take care of you," he said, then went off and returned to his desk.

I finally filled out the form, which actually took longer and was more challenging than catching the arms dealer himself was, then returned it to the woman behind the window.

"What's your account number, sweetie?"

"My what?"

"You know, for your bank account."

"I don't have one of those."

"You don't have one? How odd. Well I guess I could give you cash."

"Is that money?"

"It can be exchanged for credits if that's what you mean... but you really should get yourself a bank account though."

I noted her advice and made a mental note to do that later, but right now I was just itching to get my hands on that money. She went into the back where I couldn't see her and was in there for a while, I was getting very anxious. She finally returned and handed me a thick wad of small papers, each with elaborate designs on them and numbers printed across the face.

As soon as I had my prize in hand I bolted out of there as fast as I could run. But on the way out I passed Officer Jansen and stopped.

"I um... thanks for, uh, you know, before... your offer. But I don't think I'll need your help now. See you," I said and quickly resumed my frantic pace before he could respond. I ran from the police station and tore through the streets with only one thing in mind.

---x---

My first couple of days amongst my own kind didn't go as smoothly as I would have hoped. Grandpa was right once again; I did have a lot to learn. I was off to a good start in that regard: In just a few days I learned about crime and criminals, that money is a requirement in a world like this, and that humans are generally unfriendly to complete strangers, though some can be nice. Of all the things I learned I think what would stick with me most was that...

...steak tastes really good. 

Close log.

---x---

* * *

Next chapter: _Huntress_


	4. Huntress

_Notes:  
-A Federation credit has about the same buying powered as 10 US cents. So a 25,000 credit bounty is only about 2,500  
-"Raptor" is a derogatory term for bounty hunters used by outlaws, similar to how pig is used for the police.  
-There are two alien races mentioned in this chapter, Alpherians and Seloptians.  
-Alpherians are very similar to humans, though they are usually shorter and skinnier than the average human. They have very little pigmentation, but what little they do have is more reddish than a human. Hair ranges from pure white to light blond to light pink. Eyes are either yellow or light red.  
-Seloptians have light grayish-brown skin, are hairless, and have a tall narrow face, similar to an Easter Island statue. They have double segmented legs, four fingered hands, two long and thick primary fingers and two much shorter thumbs on either side of the palm. Their stature has much greater variance than a human; adults typically range anywhere from four to eight feet tall. They can be very thin and lanky, extremely overweight or very muscular, and everywhere in between. Build can vary independent of height._

_Usual legal disclaimer: I don't own Samus or Metroid or any other Nintendo character_

* * *

_Huntress_

--x--

Samus Aran, fourteen years old,

Things aren't always what they seem. I've learned that there's usually a hidden side to things that most people never realize is there. Take the inhabitants of the 84 West Street apartment building for example; to them, the young girl that resided in apartment 413 was a normal human female. One that probably had a family, a normal upbringing and education, and that did normal kid things like play games and hang out with friends. They never realized that she spent most of her time scouring the slums of PC-304, seeking out the worst members of society, and got paid to do it. Though, I'm sure they didn't consider me completely normal; I did live alone, come and go in the middle of the night, and was not very social with them. But I was never one to worry about what others thought of me. However, as I write this, I do find myself now wondering about it. I had lived with those people, but I didn't know any of them much at all. What did they think of me? Probably nothing good.

I got up early that morning, much earlier than usual. I tended to sleep late into the afternoon, as most vermin came out at night, so that was when I was most active as well. I had an exercise routine I went through each morning: one hundred one-arm pushups, fifty per arm, one hundred crunches, and twenty minutes on the treadmill, in addition to stretches and the few acrobatic moves that I could perform in my tiny apartment. Though the powersuit dramatically enhanced my strength and speed, I always thought every little bit helps. I didn't want to be too dependent on it, either.

While I worked out, I'd usually watch the morning news on the net. The local news, that is, the galactic news wasn't really relevant to me, as I only cared about local crime happenings of PC-304. That morning, the top story was about a string of abducted children. Over the course of a couple months, about a dozen girls in their early teens had gone missing from either their schools or from public parks. After that they talked about a recent swell in gang activity in the slums, there was an increase in shootings and drug trafficking, and violence between rival gangs. Then there was a story about a couple of unrelated robberies and then that was all for the crime. I was mostly interested in the gang related news. I'd probably get half a dozen low level bounties out of it once the police sorted out most of the mess.

My alarm rang and I cut my exercise routine short. I had an important appointment that morning, which was why I got up early. I turned off the net terminal, grabbed my powersuit's storage unit from its hiding place, pocketed the gold-metallic colored disk, and bolted out the door.

Coming down from the fourth floor, I ran into two of my neighbors having a conversation outside of their apartments. As was everyone else on the station, they were discussing the recent kidnappings. I thought it was pointless of them; why bother discussing something you have no power to change?

"Hello, Sam," one of them said as I passed by.

"Don't call me that," I reminded her for probably the hundredth time. "It's just Samus." I didn't get the compulsion most people seemed to have to give me a name other than my actual one.

"Have you heard about those abductions? It's just awful," the other one asked.

"Who hasn't... I have to go. I have something important to do."

"Always in such a rush, aren't you?"

"I just don't like to waste time."

"Well, be careful out there, sweetie, you know they're grabbing girls your age. Don't talk to people you don't know."

"I don't really know you, so I'll stop talking and just leave." I wish I'd said that just to see the reactions on their faces. What I really said was, "Yeah, I know. I won't."

I hated how people always treated me like that. But I couldn't blame them; appearances can be deceiving, I knew what I looked like. Though I'm tall for a woman now, back then I was short for my age, which probably didn't help their impression of me. I was often mistaken for a few years younger. I didn't start growing much taller until I was sixteen.

PC-304 itself was another prime example of false appearances. To most of its inhabitants it was a nice, peaceful place to live, clean and upscale. But there was more scum under the surface than most realized, you just had to know where to find it. In the six months I'd been living there, I had learned most of the best places to look, however in most instances it was a case of look-but-don't-touch. I wasn't a licensed hunter, so that meant I could only collect on bounties issued locally by PC-304, meaning the cheap ones. The arms dealer I caught to kick off my career as a bounty hunter was actually a very rare treasure. The rewards I usually collected averaged between two and four thousand credits. If a person wanted to get by as a bounty hunter they'd need to start collecting on bounties issued at the federal level, or at least by a planetary government like Perata's, and for that they'd need to be licensed.

I had already passed all the tests and filled out all the paper work, and after two weeks of waiting all I needed to do was pick up my license. I ran the entire way there. I wasn't really excited and I didn't think I'd be late, it was just that I ran most places, especially if I knew where I was going. It was one of the few quirks I had that were geared to keeping myself in top form.

At the police station I met Officer Jansen. I saw him on a regular basis as I was there a few times a week, hauling in a bounty.

"Today's the big day. You excited?"

"It's the same as any other day. I just won't have to worry about not getting paid anymore."

"Samus, come here for a second. I need to talk to you."

Despite turning down his offer, he still tried to take on a parental role for me.

"What is it?"

"Now, you know not to do anything wrong in pursuit of a bounty. Right?" he said placing his hand on my shoulder. "I know it can be tempting to take shortcuts out there. Use your best judgment and don't get yourself into trouble. Ok?"

I didn't appreciate it.

"And just because you'll have a license doesn't mean you should go after every bounty you can."

"And why shouldn't I?"

"I know you're tough and you probably think you're invincible, but you can get yourself hurt or worse. Promise you'll stay away from the dangerous ones."

I really didn't appreciate it.

I had developed a small amount of fame even this early in life, though it was only centered around the police station where I was seen regularly. In the back office where hunters do business with the police, I was greeted by the usual staff. They all knew me by name now, and even had nicknames for me, most of which made me cringe. I had names ranging from the completely unoriginal Runt, Shrimp, and Squirt, to the typical beginner names Rookie, Greenie, or Tenderfoot, to ones geared specifically to me, such as Little Mercenary, Prodigy Girl, Fledgling Knight or sometimes Page (a play on the fact that I wore armor like a knight and was young), and a hand full of other names which I can't seem to remember. The hunters generally used less endearing terms than the cops. I had names amongst the criminal element too, but I didn't know about it yet. And I was certain the general population didn't even know I existed.

I much preferred the anonymity of those days.

As I sat in the waiting room for my appointment, I could feel their eyes on me, my so-called peers. Some must have looked on me with contempt, others with jealousy, some may have even still looked down on me, considering me a greenhorn. Did they share my belief in deceptive appearances, or were they judging me by how I looked? I only knew that they weren't happy I was there, I could feel it in their gaze. To the other hunters there that day I must have been a threat. It was no secret I was getting my license, which meant I was even greater competition for them; I'd now be taking even more of their work away from them.

It is not common for a hunter to be human, rare to be female, and unheard of to be a child, though I never considered myself such. What must they have thought to have all three in one package now joining their ranks officially? The fact that I was more than just competent at the job probably didn't help matters. Perhaps they thought I didn't deserve to be counted amongst them because I was so different... Even within the margins of bounty hunting I was strikingly abnormal; an outsider among outsiders.

The officer who gave me my license badge first explained a bunch of regulations to me, and then had me sign another form affirming that I had been explained the regulations and that I understood them. Once that was done I finally received my hunter's license.

I could now go after bounties issued from the Federation or any planetary government that required a license. Being licensed also meant I could take contracts from corporations as well, though I technically didn't need a license; most corporations wouldn't hire an unlicensed hunter. Jobs like that were either personal security for VIPs or debt collections, and sometimes less than legal things like corporate espionage or even sabotage. I've tried to avoid any involvement with corporate jobs over the course of my career, though I have taken a few here and there.

The badge itself was a muted-silver colored, duridium shield with the Galactic Federation official seal engraved and inset with gold; similar to a police shield but smaller. Engraved under the Federation signet, was my serial number, A73959, and my name in three different languages. On the back side was an embedded holo-chip that could project an image of my face and vitals. It came on a thin chain, so I put it around my neck and tucked it inside my shirt.

Once I was licensed, I was eager to go after one of the more profitable bounties. There was one in particular I had in mind, the local branch of the Uryten Syndicate. I'd known about them for a while now, and was waiting to take in some of their ranking members. To me, the syndicate was a veritable buffet table of bounty heads, just waiting to be snatched up. However, when I checked the listings sorted by reward, there was one bounty that topped the list at a massive seventy five thousand credits, ambiguously titled 'The Wraith'. The syndicate branch's boss, a human named Xien Ryse, was a distant second at only thirty eight thousand. Both were open and without a second thought, or really a first, I chose the bigger reward. It had only been issued earlier that morning and I saw the opportunity to grab it before anyone else did.

I was surprised when the officer asked me if I wanted a briefing on the case. I hadn't known that was common practice. At best a locally issued bounty came with a small information package, which was a rarity, more commonly it was just a face and name; though to my lament I didn't get either. The Wraith was unknown, just a name the police used to reference him internally. As it turned out this was the case of the abducted girls that the entire station was talking about. They actually had no suspects whatsoever, only a list of victims and the suspected motives of either serial killings or a child molester. I didn't know what the latter meant at the time. The victims were all young, human or alpherian girls, between the ages of twelve and sixteen.

Immediately the question came to mind, if I didn't even know who I was looking for how would I go and catch him? It was then that I began having thoughts of regret. This would involve some type of investigating to first find the guy. I was more the smashing and shooting type and preferred something more direct than this. But, the price was right and I thought I wouldn't mind a little extra work.

While there I saw Shl'ex Bryci, the only other hunter on PC-304 with any sort of skill. Much like myself, by appearance alone you wouldn't peg him for a hunter. Unlike most, he wore ordinary clothes instead of heavy armor, though he did have a light flak jacket under the long shawl he wore. And while he did carry a small arsenal of hand guns, they were all well concealed.

He was thankfully preoccupied talking with one of the officers. I'd had several run-ins with this Seloptian in the past, a couple times out in the field, and on many occasions at the police station. He never missed an opportunity to give me advice on bounty hunting or any other subject for that matter. I snuck away before he noticed me.

With the little information I was given, I left, feeling a little lost as to where to start. I didn't know how I was supposed to find someone if I didn't know what they looked like or what their name was. Playing detective wasn't something I was used to.

I thought that perhaps speaking with some of the actual detectives on the case would get me somewhere. I learned from them that there was never any sign of a struggle or any other evidence ever found, no one ever saw someone suspicious hanging around at the time of the abduction and no bodies were ever recovered; no doubt why the guy was referred to as a wraith, the girls simply vanished. However they weren't being all that cooperative with me and I got the distinct sense that they had no idea how to proceed either. I did manage to get a list of victims from one of them; names, addresses, photos, and the places where they were abducted. But the detectives weren't much help beyond that.

I started by visiting the sites of the abductions. All were located within a particularly upscale area of the station and were mostly public parks; there were however a couple of abductions outside of the only school in the area. Going to those sites didn't really help me much. I did observe the terrain and worked out in my head how someone could be carried off without being noticed. I tried using my powersuit, but despite its advanced embedded sensors I found nothing else useful, no evidence, no trace of the missing girls or who took them, nothing at all.

Feeling that was a useless endeavor, I went to see the family of one of the victims. I thought if I learned about who they were, it might help me figure out who took them.

I saw the family of the most recently abducted girl, an Alpherian. With the use of my newly acquired license badge I convinced them I actually was a hunter. Though, they seemed to have a problem with me being so young, thinking that the girl's abduction wasn't being taken seriously enough if I "was all they were willing to send." Despite that, I did manage to convince them to talk to me, yet they told me nothing useful. They just went on and on about how sweet and good their daughter was, and how they couldn't imagine how someone would do this to her. I got nothing helpful, so I moved on to the next one on the list.

I met with the mother of a human girl, but to avoid a hassle, this time I lied and said I went to the same school as her.

"Are you friends with Misa?" she asked me.

"Uh... no, I didn't know her that well. I just felt bad about what happened and wanted to come over here. I'm just trying to make sense out of it," I said, which wasn't entirely untrue.

"We're all trying to understand it, too. Thanks for coming by. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"N-no. So, why do you think someone would kidnap Misa?"

"I really don't know, some people are just sick. I don't even want to think about what exactly they intend to do with her."

"I meant, why would someone take her in particular?"

"I...I can't answer that either, I'm sorry"

"Well, what kind of things did she like?

"Oh, this and that, typical teenage girl things. I'm sure you know."

That didn't help me any, I didn't have the slightest clue what normal was for a girl my age.

"Though, she is into sports a lot, too. She's very athletic," she added. 

"Did she always stay at the park a lot?"

"On occasion, she goes there to play soccer with the other kids in the area. But... she knows not to trust strange adults. How could this have happened... I'm so worried... She's such a sweet girl, kind and innocent, she would never hurt anyone... such a horrible monster, what would he want with my little angel..." Blah, blah, blah; on and on the woman went with a string of sickening adjectives, each just another word for weakness.

I couldn't help but think the entire time the woman was speaking how stupid and feeble this girl must have been. I didn't feel the slightest bit sorry for her; it was her own fault for not being able to defend herself.

"... and now I know I'll probably never see her again," she concluded, now with tears in her eyes.

"Uhh... I have to go, thanks for uh... talking."

"Wait... sorry, I didn't mean to cry like that... You know, I didn't want to say anything before, but you look so much like her... You should be careful yourself honey, that monster is still out there, he could come after you too."

'That's brilliant,' I thought.

"Thanks, that really helps!" I said, no doubt to her confusion, and promptly left with my new strategy.

It was simple, I'd just sit in the park using myself as bait and wait for my prey to come to me, like an ambush predator. Grandpa had taught me about different kinds of wild animals. Concerning predators, there were different types; some actively stalked their prey, which is what I would normally do, while others concealed themselves and waited for their prey to come to them. Many used some type of lure to attract them. In this case the lure I would use would be myself.

But, no sooner did I have my plan than I realized the day was gone. I took a trip through one of the parks to take a quick look around before returning home. After unsuccessfully avoiding conversation with my neighbors, I made it back to my apartment. That night, I dreamt of my mother and the demon again. It was... pretty bad.

I spent the entirety of the following day at a different park with no success. I sat there with my head back on the bench looking up at the other side of the station's cylinder, bored out of my mind. I thought this was useless, I thought he had moved on to another area, or moved off the station entirely. But, it was too early to make those assumptions. It had only been a couple days and the periods between attacks were often longer than that.

Still, I felt like I was accomplishing nothing, and my thoughts drifted to the Uryten Syndicate. Nice juicy bounties, ripe for the taking, all I had to do was go and grab them. That was why I got my license, after all. But, I had to be impetuous and go and get lured in by a big price tag without considering the ramifications. I hated when others made me feel like a little kid, but it stung far worse when my own actions hit me with that fact like a smack in the face.

Artificial night fell and I went home; unlike the others I hunted, this guy was only active in the day. As I lay in bed, I wished I had gone after the syndicate like I had planned. I only had myself to blame, though. I was only allowed to sign for one bounty at a time, and if I forfeit the one I was currently on, I'd be penalized and not allowed to work for two weeks. My mind just ran round in circles trying to think of a way out of this situation, which only served to frustrate me further.

'Think before you act, moron. I'm such a kid.'

I thought maybe I should just go after the syndicate anyway, I had a rent payment coming up and I needed funds. But, I hadn't signed for it so I'd only get two thirds. I went to sleep rather upset with myself.

I had the nightmare for the second night in a row. That had never happened before, though I had been aware that they had steadily been getting worse ever since I left the Chozo. They were getting more frequent, more intense, more real. I could feel the heat of the flames and smell the rotting corpses; the demon's visage haunted me whenever I closed my eyes. A hundred times over, I saw my mother's death... a confetti of flesh that rained down around me.

Unaware that I'd run from my bed taking my blanket with me, I found myself huddled under the table in the corner of the room, the line between sleep and consciousness blurred. I sat there with the sheets wrapped around myself, shivering, and flinching nervously at every stray noise from the busy street four stories below my window.

I would get a knot in my chest; a tightness that made it sometimes difficult to breathe. Despite the cold chill in my limbs I would sweat from head to toe. My mind frequently played tricks on me, too, turning every innocuous object or sound into a menacing entity, to which I was defenseless against and had no hope of escaping from.

I suddenly felt extremely claustrophobic and had to go out. Leaving my apartment, I struck out blindly into the night, not caring where I wound up. These were the times I hated most, far more than anything else that vexed me. The sense of fear and helplessness that my dreams induced would sometimes linger for hours. It was the worst, and even though it's gotten somewhat better now, I'm ashamed to admit that even to this day I still hide under the table on occasion. For a brief time in my late teens I was on medication for posttraumatic stress disorder, but it didn't really help much, and I hated the idea of being dependant on it. Only once I'd confronted Ridley back on Zebes did it ever get noticeably better, though I still have the dreams from time to time.

Without looking where I was heading, or perhaps I did intend it without actually realizing it consciously, I found myself in the neighborhood of the Uryten Syndicate's headquarters. I was still very shaken up from that nightmare. I needed to do something to clear my head; I needed to... feel powerful again, to feel like I was in control.

"Hell. Why not?" Two thirds of thirty eight thousand wasn't too bad for a single night, far better than sitting in the park for days, accomplishing nothing. I made up my mind.

* * *

To be continued...


	5. Huntress: Part Two

_Huntress_

_Part Two_

--x--

Without looking where I was heading, or perhaps I did intend it without actually realizing it consciously, I found myself in the neighborhood of the Uryten Syndicate's headquarters. I was still very shaken up from that nightmare. I needed to do something to clear my head; I needed to... feel powerful again, to feel like I was in control.

"Hell. Why not?" Two thirds of thirty eight thousand wasn't too bad for a single night, far better than sitting in the park for days, accomplishing nothing. I made up my mind.

This place wasn't a secret in the least, it was officially a public nightclub. In fact they often held parties there for those they did business with: C.E.Os and VIPs, lawyers, and even some government officials who were on the take, could all frequently be found inside. The Urytens knew the cops didn't have the balls to touch them, and PC-304 wasn't a terribly big or important place, so it was unlikely that the Federation would send any enforcers. As such, things like this often fell to hunters to deal with; however the last hunter that went after Xien Ryse wound up disemboweled and hung from a street light outside of the police station.

I wasn't afraid of them, however. I spent many nights perched on the roof, looking through the skylight window, dreaming about the day I could cash in on the treasures within. I knew the layout; I knew the operation, the routines of the syndicate members inside, and that Xien liked to hang out in the back in a room with a window overlooking the lounge.

I knew exactly what I was doing when I jumped down through that skylight, and into the midst of two dozen Uryten goons. At least I thought I did. I didn't expect it to erupt into gunfire so quickly and so intensely, almost like they were expecting me. Although, their light blaster fire would do little to my armor, as long as I didn't take sustained hits, not that they could hit me.

With my cannon adjusted to deliver more of a concussive force rather than searing heat, its shots would be the equivalent of being hit by a sledge hammer. I laid down a suppressing fire, doing severe damage to the structure and furnishings. If one of them got too close, I'd quickly incapacitate him with a swift kick to the face.

This was more my thing. I wouldn't say I had enjoyed it, but it was a welcomed relief from investigating. I should have gone with my original plan and took this job instead, and received full payment on it. For just a few minutes of work I would have gotten a rather hefty reward and could already have been on to something else, instead of the several days I'd invested into searching for a ghost with no results.

I stood over Xien, looking down on him as he backed away and up against the wall. He pulled a blaster on me and fired a few shots that were harmlessly absorbed by my armor's shielding. I stepped on his hand, forcing him to release the weapon.

"God-damned raptor, you think you'll get away with this? You have no idea who you're screwing with. Just who do you think I am?"

"I think... you're easy money."

It was then that one of his remaining flunkies broke a wooden barstool over my head. As the furniture splintered and came apart I slowly turned around to face a very terrified thug. Realizing his mistake, he timidly backed off as I dragged his boss out by his ankle, as he refused to come willingly.

Outside, I had an unexpected encounter.

"That was an impressive show you put on, Aran."

I spun around to see Shl'ex Bryci sitting on a window ledge, coming within a fraction of a second of taking his head off.

"Hey easy... Nice job in there, way more brazen that I'd have been," he said.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"I was waiting for that fellow there to make an exit so I could grab him, but you beat me to it apparently."

"You were too slow."

"I don't mind really, I still get half even though I didn't do any work."

'Damn!' I cursed myself. He had signed for this bounty, that's why he was at the police station the other day. I'd only get half instead of the two thirds I originally thought. Though now I understood why it seemed like they were expecting someone. They undoubtedly had informants within the police and knew someone accepted the bounty on Xien.

"But don't make a habit of it. Just because you're licensed now doesn't mean you have free reign to do whatever you want. Not everyone is as laid-back as me, you'll get yourself into fights."

"I'm always in fights. Stop trying to protect me like I'm some stupid kid! You're always doing that."

"You are a kid... And I doubt you've gotten into a fight with a hunter before."

"None of them impress me."

"Maybe none of the ones you've met. There are some pretty scary guys out there that you don't want to be messing with. You should be more careful."

"I don't need you to tell me what to do. I'm going."

I left, but he followed me. Obviously, he was owed half the bounty, so we were going the same way.

"Here." I pushed Xien Ryse over to Shl'ex. "Make yourself useful," I said as I dematerialized my powersuit.

"You have no idea what you are doing." Xien said.

"Shut it."

"We have people everywhere; we can get to you at any time. You're making a big mistake here."

"Well if you do send someone after me make sure they have a price on their head... saves me the trouble of tracking them down." I wasn't posturing; I honestly wanted them to send bounties my way.

"You don't get it... It doesn't matter how tough you are. We'll go after your families too. You can't be everywhere at once, but we can. Let me go, and we'll just forget about all this."

"I ain't got a family."

"Humph... what about you?" he said to Shl'ex.

"Even if you did convince me to let you go, she'd never agree. And honestly I'd rather be on your bad side than hers."

"Why don't you two just talk between yourselves and leave me out if it." I said.

"I can pay you...both of you. Far more reward than you'd get for bringing me in." That comment actually piqued my interest but Shl'ex quickly shot it down.

"We'd get our licenses suspended. Now be quiet."

"Damn you, no good raptors..." Xien continued to mutter.

"So, Aran, tell me... where'd you learn to fight like that? How'd a kid like you get to be so tough?"

"I told you I'm not a kid."

"Touché. You don't operate like a greenhorn, was all I meant... So you gonna tell me where you learned to fight? And where did you get that impressive armored suit from?"

"Ugh... from my grandpa," I said reluctantly, hoping he'd quit pestering me if I answered his question.

"The fighting or the suit?"

"Both."

"That grandpa must have been one hell of a warrior."

"He was a scientist, actually."

"Oh? In any case, I think you've got what it takes."

"For what?"

"To be a great hunter... To make it outside of a place like this. If you're this good this young, imagine once you've got some experience under your belt. Honestly, I'm at my limit here. I'd been sitting outside that nightclub for two days looking for some lax moment to nab this guy here, some opportunity or opening to slip in unnoticed. Then you just come along, burst right in there, shoot up the place, and in less than three minutes drag him out by his collar, literally," he said in a dramatic tone.

"It's no big deal."

"It's a huge deal. There must have been twenty armed bodyguards in there. I couldn't have done it. There aren't many that could."

"Well then, you're pretty weak," I said flatly.

"That was uncalled for," he scowled at me.

"It's true."

"Didn't anyone ever teach you manners, young lady?"

"Don't call me that either. Maybe this would be easier if you didn't talk anymore."

Despite that, he continued to pester me but I tuned him out. And, once we had collected the reward on Xien, I was relieved to be able to part from him. He had other ideas apparently, and stopped me as we left the police station.

"Alright, now that we're done with work, why don't I buy you a drink?" he said.

"What are you talking about?"

"I kind of feel bad about taking half the money when I didn't even do anything to earn it. So let me buy you something to drink to make up for it"

"You mean alcohol?"

"Don't tell me you've never had a drink before," he said, sounding surprised.

"No! Besides, don't I have to be older to..." I stopped myself there, I had always hated being limited by my age and that one particular rule really pissed me off.

"Nah it's alright, I told you, I'm buying."

"Fine then! I will," I said defiantly.

He took me to a bar and had me sit at a table while he went to buy drinks from the counter. He came back with a couple beers, and I took my first sip of alcohol ever.

"How is it?"

"Gross." I didn't like the taste, but I was determined to flaunt the rules, so I kept drinking.

"It takes some getting used to," he said and started in on his own drink. "So, Aran... uh... Samus... Mind if I call you that?"

"It's my name. Why would I mind?"

"Alright then Samus, I've been meaning to ask you. What's a... uh... young person like you doing bounty hunting here on the station? How'd you end up in this situation?"

"I ask myself that all the time."

"What about family or school? Shouldn't humans your age be in school? Do your parents condone what you do every day?"

"They're dead," I said bluntly.

"Uh... sorry. Anyway, If you ever... need any advice or something--"

"Stop it. Stop trying to look out for me. I don't have any parents... I don't need any. I don't need you or Jansen or anyone else trying to act like one."

"Hey, Jansen's a good guy, cut him some slack. He just wants to make sure you're alright."

"I can take care of myself. I don't need anyone's help."

"You live alone?"

"Yeah, so!?" I took offense at his question.

"I'm just asking..."

"You saw how I was in there; if a bunch of syndicate bodyguards couldn't touch me, what can? Nothing! Nothing can! Nobody's going to hurt me, ever. So that's why I don't need help with anything."

"Accepting help doesn't mean you're helpless."

"Yeah, it does!" There was no way I would have been able to accept his logic at that point in my life. Even now, when I know his words to be true, I would still find it exceptionally difficult to accept help from someone without it feeling like an assault on my strength and self-reliance, on my pride.

He stared at me for the longest while, with a different facial expression than he normally had. I'm not sure what it meant, because I couldn't read Seloptian faces; I wasn't that good at reading human ones back then either. Had he been Chozo, however, I could easily have read him.

"Let me see your license," he said finally.

"Why? You have one, look at that."

"I want to see yours, they switched to a new style recently, I want to see one."

With much irritation I pulled the badge out of my shirt and held it up for him to see, the string still around my neck.

"Sharp," he exclaimed after looking it over.

"It's just a piece of metal."

"No, that's your livelihood. It's proof that you have the right to hunt. You need to take care of it." He spoke in the same condescending tone Jansen almost always used with me.

"More advice?" I huffed in annoyance.

"And I don't just mean not to lose it. Make sure you don't do anything to get it revoked."

"Alright already..."

"Anyway, I'm glad you finally got it, you deserve it."

"Humph, aren't you worried I'll take all the best jobs? ...like I did tonight."

"Yeah well... there's no holding you back, right?"

Looking back on it, it seems to me that he was afraid of me. He was trying to get on my good side, although doing a lousy job of it.

It makes sense, I'd be afraid of me too. I was a kid with a lot of power, which could be a very terrifying thing. Children are prone to tantrums, mood swings, acting without thinking and bad judgment, myself much less so than the average kid, but he didn't really know that. The assumption was that I'd misuse all that power at some point; he was making sure he wasn't on the wrong end of it, which made him a lot smarter than most.

Most of the rest of the conversation was a blur. The effects of the alcohol for sure, but I never thought it'd be as powerful as it was. It wasn't something I appreciated; in fact I was sure I hated it. It made me sluggish, unfocused, vulnerable... helpless. Not being in complete control of my faculties, I suddenly felt very threatened.

"I have to leave." I said flatly.

"What, is it past your bed time?"

I might have kicked him for such a joke had I been sober, but I just wanted to get the hell out of there.

To this day, I have never consumed another drop of alcohol.

The hangover I experienced the following morning only reinforced my aversion to alcohol. Despite how my head felt, I went back to the park and waited, using the same strategy to use myself as bait. I resolved then to never again go after bounties that required much investigation. Breaking things was more my style and those were the jobs I'd be taking from then forward. Though, I couldn't leave this job undone; someone had to do it and from what I learned the previous night, most hunters wouldn't touch someone else's bounty. And I couldn't quit it without getting penalized, so I had to do it myself.

But it really irked me, I could have been doing something else besides sitting on a bench on the off chance someone would try and abduct me. I could have been be pursuing other bounties.

"Damn it." I muttered out of frustration, and kicked the dirt. 'I got myself in to this now I have to deal with it.'

I waited longer still; it was mid day by now and still nothing. I was about to shout another obscenity when a girl about my age approached me.

"Hi," she said cheerfully. "Want to hang out?" she said with a smile, tipping her head to the side.

"Not really."

She leaned forward clasping her hands behind her back. "Come on, this place is boring. Let's go someplace cool."

"I'm busy." I said, still looking around the park, barely paying her any attention.

Without another word she left. I was relieved I didn't have to actually chase her away as I was unlikely to be attacked if I was with someone else.

I continued searching and eventually I noticed one guy who was paying a little bit too much attention to one kid in particular. Though she was a bit younger than the other victims, it was still suspicious looking. After a tense long while the guy finally approached the kid. I stood from the bench and my hand went into my pocket grasping my powersuit's storage unit. At the last minute the kid turned to see him and ran to him. It turned out that he was her father.

"Damn it!" I said and sat back down. I said that a lot, it was my favorite curse phrase. I think I heard on the one of the net shows, and it just stuck

As I looked around scanning person after person, I noticed that girl who talked to me before, now talking to another girl. She used that same approach as she had with me.

"Persistent, isn't she?"

I wondered if this was how normal kids socialized. After being turned down again she moved on. I noticed she had an odd way of looking around, like she was searching for something.

I then thought I found my target. I saw a really seedy-looking guy approaching, a thug if I ever saw one, and on top of that he was of a species known for their propensity to be indiscriminate eaters, and on occasion have been found to attack and consume other sentients. He walked through the park looking like he had a purpose, he wasn't just taking a stroll.

'That's got to be him.' I thought.

I saw Persistent Girl talking to yet a third prospective playmate; he was going right for them. Again my hand went for my armor. He would grab one or both, I knew it. But just as I thought he would, he passed them by without even glancing at them. I watched him a while longer and realized he was just cutting through the park.

I continued searching, letting my eyes pan across the park, back in the direction the guy had come from. My sight passed over the bench where the two girls had been, it was now empty.

'They were there just fifteen seconds ago...' The realization hit me. 'That can't be!'

This time when my hand reached for armor's storage disk, I finally did pull it from my pocket and ran my thumb across its surface. The matter conversion sequence activated, which materialized the powersuit onto my body, no doubt startling any nearby onlookers. I ran over to the bench and looked around for some sign of them but saw nothing. Using my scanners I searched for some sort of trace evidence, a trail, something to follow. I found nothing still. They'd gotten away.

"Damn it."

As I said before, things aren't always what they seem. I don't know how I could have missed that. Her behavior was so obvious, so typically predatory, I just wasn't looking. She had the same look I did when searching for a bounty head. But still, I had trouble accepting that she really could have been the one I was looking for.

'She's just a young girl, no older than me...' I felt quite stupid. Of all people, I should have seen it; I should have been open to that possibility, given how much I hated being judged by my age. I felt like a complete hypocrite.

"Damn it."

With nothing to pursue, I went home, very upset with myself. I thought about going to take out my frustrations on a bunch of syndicate thugs, but then remembered I'd already done that.

'It's alright,' I thought. 'She was a repeat offender. I can get her next time,' I reassured myself I hadn't actually lost anything.

I didn't once think of the victim. If that had happened today I probably wouldn't be able to sleep at night. I'd be worried sick knowing that I let some poor girl get taken to be raped, tortured, or killed... probably all three. Though I know the Chozo tried to teach me it, the true value of sentient life wasn't something I learned until much later in my life. It was quite a painful lesson at that... but that's a story for another time.

The only thought I had towards the victims at that time was how stupid they were for allowing themselves to be taken so easily. I thought them even stupider now that I knew the one grabbing them was just a child herself... I really had to stop thinking like that; what a hypocrite I was.

I just realized that I never even informed the authorities to warn people that the abductor was a young girl... A hypocrite and an unthinking child.

When I saw on the news that there had been another abduction, and the girl taken was in fact the one I saw at the park that day, any and all doubt was erased. I now had a solid lead to chase after. Though after two more days of hanging out in the park and getting nothing I made up my mind to try a different approach. I sat a top one of the taller buildings in the area where most of the abductions happened. From this spot I had a clear view of two public parks and a school. Using my visor to magnify the image, I spent the day scanning each site for the girl to make an appearance again.

"This waiting sucks." I really just wanted to shoot or hit something at that point.

I went that entire day without seeing her. The artificial sunlight had begun to dim, and the school had let out hours before, so I concentrated my attention on the two parks which were also beginning to empty. I never did see that same girl again. However I did see a different girl acting suspiciously, she had been at one of the parks all day, alone. I paid her no mind before, since I was looking for a specific face, but once I had really looked, I noticed this new girl displayed the exact same predatory behavior.

I didn't understand why there were two of them, two young girls stalking victims. I thought it might have been a copycat but then realized I was the only one who knew about the first. They had to have known each other then, and done this in conjunction, I thought. Though I couldn't be certain if I was reading to much into her behavior or not, she hadn't actually done anything wrong yet. And in fact she never did; at the end of the day she left the park alone. I followed her to see if she would lead me to the other girl, so I would know for certain.

I tracked her, following across the rooftops, back to wherever it was that she was going. She walked with a purpose, focused straight ahead, reminding me of myself, not distracted like so many other children. Though I was the way I was for a very good reason, I wondered what hers was.

'What happened to her to drive her to this?' I thought. 'And why two of them? Did one convince the other to join her crime?'

It also baffled me as to what their motives could be. They weren't ransoming these girls, and they're both human, not any of the alien species known to eat other sentient beings... though they could have been cannibals... What possible gain was there? I was still very naïve and one of the most obvious motives never even crossed my mind, and I probably wouldn't have believed it even if someone had explained it to me.

Other than her odd behavior at the park I still had no proof that this girl did anything. However, when she entered a dilapidated and abandoned apartment building I became certain that she was guilty. The place looked like it hadn't been used in quite a few years.

I entered from the roof and quietly made my way down through the building, looking for any signs of movement. Several floors down, I caught a glimpse of a figure moving past at the far end of the hall that quickly disappeared around the corner. I gave chase but only found an empty corridor. However, there were only four rooms at the end of the dead-end hall.

One by one, I checked inside the rooms. Most only required a quick glance from the door, as they were completely gutted and empty. The place was truly in shambles, with gaping holes in the walls, broken windows, and wires hung out of the ceiling in many places.

Entering the last room, I could see it looked slightly more used than the other rooms; the dust wasn't quite as thick, though there were vermin everywhere. Here, the interior walls had been left up, dividing the apartment into smaller rooms.

I moved slowly as I made my way deeper in, cautiously checking around each corner. I could hear my own breath loudly inside my helmet; my heart was racing as well. I don't know why I was so nervous, it was unlike me, but it turned out I had good reason to be. It was there that I encountered what was probably the second most horrible sight I had ever beheld.

Scattered about the room were not quite a dozen bodies of young girls, all stripped naked and in various stages of decay. They were simply left to rot where they had fallen. This was the first taste of death I'd seen since the pirate raid on K-2L and it was more than a bit unnerving, taking me back to a place I didn't want to go.

To my shock one of them was still alive, it was the girl that I had seen disappear from the park two days before. She had been chained to the floor by her ankle, was completely naked, and very filthy. She didn't look injured other than that. I then noticed another still-living girl there in similar condition; the alpherian who had been taken almost ten days prior. Though she was in much worse shape, looking like she hadn't eaten it a long while. And indeed my scanners told me the cause of death of the others had been starvation.

The first girl grabbed onto my leg and said something to me, but her voice was weak and her words unintelligible. She looked up at me with incredibly sad and pathetic eyes. I'd never been so disgusted in my life. I shook my leg, knocking her off, as if I'd stepped in something on the street.

"Where is she?" I asked firmly, yet I could feel the tremble in my voice.

I only got the same indiscernible babble out of her. I then heard a sound from the back room and went to check it out. In the small room I saw nothing, but using the audio filters built into my helmet I was able to discern a heartbeat. The sound came from a small closet. I swung it open.

"Don't shoot me!" I was met by a very frightened looking girl, the same girl I had followed.

"Where's your partner?" I said.

"Who..."

"The other girl, the one from two days ago."

"I don't know what you mean."

"Don't play games with me!" I slammed my cannon into the wall next to her head, causing her to jump.

"I don't know!" she cried.

I then noticed the lower half of her body was different, changing. The clothes were completely different than before, her legs were different, and in fact she wasn't human at all. I grabbed her by the throat, ripped her out of the closet and slammed her against the opposite wall. In an instant her face completely changed. She, or rather he, was a shape shifter; not a human, not female, and not a child. And incidentally, nothing like me at all as I had previously thought.

He had been using the guise of a young girl to stalk his victims and elude the police. He must have used a different face each time out to avoid any common descriptions among witnesses. No one would expect a kid, no one except me that is.

"Please, don't kill me."

"Shut up," I snapped at him and pushed him towards the door. "Get moving."

As I marched him out of there we passed his two captives on the way out. They recoiled from him as much as their chains would allow. For some reason their cowardice was offensive to me.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Stupid cowards... Weak! You're weak!" I shouted angrily. But they only shrank away more.

"What's the use...?" I raised my cannon and fired two shots, severing the chains that bound their ankles to the floor. "Just go the hell home." I said, and then left as quickly as possible.

I couldn't stomach seeing them one instant longer. I hated their wretched state; their miserable, sad, and frightened faces. When that girl was clinging onto my leg earlier I felt utter terror. It was weakness I feared most, and I thought hers would somehow infect me and make me as feeble as her.

My first encounter with the Space Pirates and Ridley was the only time in my life that I was truly a helpless person. To me, any sense of weakness meant going back to that place. It was something I wanted to avoid at all costs. Those girls actually frightened me more than their captor did, more than imagining the terrible things he'd done to them; though thankfully my naive mind didn't put together exactly what that was.

Walking my catches back to the police station I usually would take my armor off, unless I judged them to have above average combat capabilities. But this time I didn't, and he didn't have any combat potential at all. I could have easily taken him down even without my armor, yet I left it on. I didn't want him looking at me. I didn't want him to see what I really was, that I looked like the girls he victimized. I didn't want anybody looking at me like that, like I could be a victim, like I was defenseless.

"I know you..." he spoke suddenly.

I became worried that he knew. Did he catch a glimpse of my face through my visor and recognize me from the park? Could he tell from my voice? Or did he know by reputation who, or rather what, I was? Did he know that what I was under the armor? Was his mind now transforming me into that wretched sight back in that apartment? Did he know? I was horrified at the thought.

But that wasn't what he meant.

"You're her," he continued, "the one they all talk about. You're the Huntress."

'Huntress? So I have a name amongst the outlaws too?'

It was the first time I'd ever heard the epithet that would stick with me to this day. It figures that my prey would be the ones to come up with it. It had a very different feel about it, not like what the cops and hunters called me, it was uttered in fearful tones and with respect. There was a dangerous air about it, which I thought fit me perfectly.

Of all the names I'd been given, it was the only one I didn't mind being called.

Close log.

--x--

* * *

Next chapter: _What is Normal_


End file.
